Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker facts for kids
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Scharffen Berger factory in 2008
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| Industry | Food |
| Fate | Acquired by Harry & David in 2024, |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founder | John Scharffenberger Robert Steinberg |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Chocolate |
| Parent | 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. |
Scharffen Berger is an American chocolate making company. It was started in 1996 by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg in Berkeley, California. The company was special because it was the first American company in 50 years to make chocolate "from bean to bar." This means they did every step themselves, from roasting the cocoa beans to making the finished chocolate bars. Scharffen Berger mostly made dark chocolate with a high amount of cocoa solids.
Contents
History of Scharffen Berger
The story of Scharffen Berger began with its founders, John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg. In 1989, Robert Steinberg, who was a doctor, faced a serious health challenge. This made him think about new career paths. He read a large chocolate cookbook, which made him very interested in making chocolate.
Learning to Make Chocolate
Steinberg started traveling to learn how chocolate was made. In 1993, he visited the Bernachon chocolate company in Lyon, France. He wrote a letter in French asking for an internship and was allowed to work there for two weeks.
After his internship, Steinberg met John Scharffenberger, who used to be his patient and neighbor. Scharffenberger was a winemaker and businessman. He was selling his winery and looking for new business ideas. Steinberg offered Scharffenberger a piece of French chocolate he had. Scharffenberger later said it was the best chocolate he had ever tasted.
Starting the Chocolate Company
Scharffenberger and Steinberg soon decided to work together to make chocolate. They started by experimenting in Steinberg's home kitchen. They used over 30 different types of cacao beans. Their simple tools included a mortar and pestle, a coffee grinder, and even a hair dryer to keep the chocolate smooth.
They chose the name Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker because John Scharffenberger's name was already known from his winemaking business.
By 1997, they made their first batch of chocolate in a small factory in South San Francisco. They used old German machines and simple ingredients, like Venezuelan Criollo beans and Tahitian vanilla. Within four years, the company moved to a new factory in Berkeley, California.
Scharffen Berger carefully chose its cacao beans from growers around the world. They did every step of making chocolate themselves. This included roasting the beans, conching (mixing and grinding), tempering (heating and cooling), and molding the chocolate into bars. Scharffen Berger was the first American chocolate maker to clearly show the cacao content on their chocolate bar labels. A higher number meant the chocolate was darker and more intense. This practice is now common in the chocolate industry.
Changes in Ownership
On July 25, 2005, Scharffen Berger announced that The Hershey Company was buying it. Hershey completed the purchase on August 15, 2005. Hershey bought Scharffen Berger for about $10 million. In the same year, Hershey also bought another San Francisco company called Joseph Schmidt Confections. Hershey combined these two smaller companies into a new company called Artisan Confections Company.
Hershey then started making Scharffen Berger products in a factory in Robinson, Illinois. In early 2009, Hershey decided to close the factories in the San Francisco Bay Area. They moved all production to Illinois.
Robert Steinberg, one of the founders of Scharffen Berger, passed away on September 17, 2008.
After more than 15 years, The Hershey Company sold some of its brands in 2020. This included Scharffen Berger and Dagoba chocolate. Hershey wanted to focus on salty snacks. In June 2021, Scharffen Berger became a privately owned company again.
In 2024, the company was bought by Harry & David.
Fair Practices and Cocoa Sourcing
Some groups have encouraged chocolate companies, including Hershey, to make sure their cocoa is sourced ethically. This means making sure that child labor is not used and that farmers are paid fairly.
A campaign called "The Raise the Bar, Hershey! Campaign" started in 2010. It asked Hershey to promise to stop child labor in its cocoa supply. It also asked Hershey to use 100% Fair Trade Certified cocoa for some of its chocolate bars.
In 2012, Whole Foods Market announced it would stop selling Hershey's high-end products, including Scharffen Berger. This decision came after many other stores also expressed concerns. On the same day, Hershey's announced that it would get 100% certified cocoa for all its chocolate products by 2020. They also said they would work to help stop child labor in cocoa-growing areas.
Reviews
Famous chef Julia Child reportedly said that Scharffen Berger was the best chocolate she had tasted in the United States.
See also
